[PRP] Queueing Simulations

[Tinnunculus]

Setting aside what you were doing could be difficult, especially if you were engrossed in it - so never one to make things unnecessarily difficult for himself, Hayes hadn't. It'd be a while before he could get his food anyway. The cafeteria wasn't at peak lunch hour but there was still a healthy crowd inside, enough that all the serving stations had a bit of a wait. Rather than stare at the back of someone's head, he'd opted to keep catching up on the base's goings-on.. and there'd been a lot going on.

Out of uniform in a t-shirt and jeans, the Rocket shuffled along with the line, but his attention on a video playing on the tablet balanced on his upturned hand. 'Faleen!' The Jirachi hanging over his shoulder pointed a little white hand at the screen.

"Yup. Here, want to listen? It's science." The blond grinned and offered the earbud he wasn't using to the little Pokemon, who took and held it to the side of its face like a seashell. Their attention on the recording, neither trainer nor Pokemon noticed the widening gap between them and the agent ahead.

Scientific progress was very well and good, but it was holding up the line.  

[caffeinecraving]

Kailee never ate at peek time. Too many witnesses for when she would spill something. And she would spill something. At least most the time. She moved into the cafeteria and looked around. So many people today. She just had to remember to hold the tray with both hands... and watch where she walked.

Kailee had hopped into line and had set a bowl of soup on her plate with a half sandwich. She would just eat quick and then duck out and run. At least she thought it would be quick. She looked up from her tray, never a good move, to see what was going on and why the line had stopped. She couldn't help the smile as she watched the pokemon with the screen. However, not everyone was so happy. There were people getting pushy and starting to yell. Kai frowned. "Just leave them alone guys..." She frowned and her face was slightly red. She never spoke up in front of a large group unless it was necessary. And this was necessary.... She didn't see a lot of people here that seemed to think of their pokemon as anything but means to an end. Even though Sissy, her wigglytuff, refused to listen, she still looked at the pokemon as a pokemon with a personality more than a tool. Even though Aulus... Agent Aulus had told her otherwise.

One person wasn't satisfied to leave them be and he bumped into Kailee as he passed. She watched in horror as her soup, in what seemed like slow motion, went flying off her tray and straight toward the rocket in question. "No!" Why...this time she had done everything right and it still all went wrong in the end. She reached out to try and catch it but instead she watched in horror as he soup went all over and people around them laughed.  

[Tinnunculus]

Squarely tuned to Radio Science, Hayes picked up none of the commotion going on behind him. Alphard was not so selectively deaf, however, and looked behind them for the source of the noise. 'Hm?' The Pokemon's eyes widened. 'Oh!' The earbud dropped from the Jirachi's hands as its eyes flashed blue, and the soup splashed off a wall of psychic energy that sprang up and slid under the airborne liquid, catching most of it about a foot off the floor. A few drops splashed Hayes' t-shirt and the tablet screen, making him look up. "Huh? Oh. Sorry guys." The blond stepped aside with an apologetic smile for the people behind him. "Go ahead."

The energy sheet wrapped itself around the soup, collecting it into a liquid oblong infused with a faint blue glow.

The blond glanced at the spatter of broth on his shoulders but it was the beads distorting the tablet's LCD screen that he grimaced at. "Geez." Taking the hem of his t-shirt, he wiped them up and tilted the device to check for streaks. "Mmh." Only then did he notice the floating soup and his glowing Jirachi, and blinked in mild surprise. "Nice catch, Al.. uh, hey, is this yours?" The last was for Kailee and her half-empty tray and delivered with a nod to the soup, which had risen to chest-height in an undulating globe.  

[caffeinecraving]

Kailee was absolutely in love with that pokemon. It had just saved her from complete embarrassment. She moved to the side to let others pass. She was responsible for that soup, so if it was let go she would have to clean it up. She righted her bowl and just kinda laughed softly. She liked electronics too... but not that much. It wasn't mocking, it was just to diffuse the tension she was feeling.

Kailee nodded at the question and flashed a smile. "Yeah! Im so sorry... I wish i could say im not usually this clumsy... But your Jirachi really saved me this time." She smiled at it and held out the tray with the bowl for the pokemon to deposit the soup. "Thank you..." She smiled at the pokemon. Turning fully to look at the other rocket she shifted her tray and held out her hand. "Im Kailee..."

Kailee was a generally bubbly person but most the time she looked like a simpering fool. So being spared that embarrassment this time she could really show herself. So with a large smile, she offered a question. "Is your tablet ok?"  

[Tinnunculus]

"Don't worry about it," Hayes grinned as the line moved past; his voice was a light tenor and his t-shirt bore a logo subtitled 'Weyland-Yutani Corporation: "Building Better Worlds."' "Nothing broke and.. I.. think.. she.. might want her soup back, Al," he trailed off, head turning as he caught sight of the Jirachi who was floating the ball of liquid ever closer, its mouth a little 'o' of fascinated concentration.

'Hm?' the Pokemon looked up, almost cupping the soup in its small hands.

"How 'bout it?" his trainer encouraged. "She looks hungry."

The Jirachi looked down at the offered tray, then at the soup, then at Kailee. 'Okay. Here.' The wobbling soup-orb lowered itself into the bowl, splashing a little onto the sandwich as it lost the glow of psychic energy. 'Oops.' The legendary's voice was what small bells would sound like if they chimed words directly into the mind.

"Almost, bud. You can work on it." The blond's smile shaded to mildly rueful. "Kailee, huh? Sorry about your sandwich. I'm Hayes-" he shook her offered hand, "and it's fine. These guys-" he lifted the tablet, "-are pretty sturdy. And this is-"

'Alphard!' the Jirachi chimed from its shoulder perch.  

[caffeinecraving]

She flushed happily. "I do worry about it... Nothing breaking is a first for me... So i am just a little happy for that." She laughed and nodded her head. "Yes please if you don't mind." She could see the vegetables swimming around in the floating ball and she smiled at the little pokemon. She nodded along with Hayes encouraging his pokemon. She rubbed her stomach. "Mmm... yeah very hungry..."

She was almost waiting for the pokemon to just stop and have the soup fall all over the place. She was completely satisfied with the pookemon's dexterity. She smiled. "Thank you!"

She smiled to Hayes and shook her head. "I like to dip my sandwich anyway..."She turned back to the pokemon. "So you just made my choice of which end to start at all that much easier."

"Its a pleasure... To meet both of you. I could let you meet my partner sissy if you would like!" She grinned although in her head she was begging him to say no. There was no promise that she would go back in her ball afterward. She nodded toward the food line... "Would you like to sit with me? Id love to hear about your tablet... It looks pretty cool."  

[Tinnunculus]

"That's a good way to look at it," he said, and his smile shaded to quiet amusement. "Nice meeting you too." 'Kai-lee,' Alphard echoed; its voice gave the name a cadence, like two bells. The soup began to glow and bunch up, spurred by her praise, until Hayes said, almost absently, 'One end's enough.' The soup mound subsided.

Hayes glanced down at the tablet and tapped its screen, pausing the still-running video. "Sure," he said. "Grab a table and I'll get something to eat."  

[caffeinecraving]

She smiled. Always the sunny optimist. Even when it all looked bleak and there was broken glass or she was going to have to pay for another set of sample slides. She smiled and looked to the pokemon thinking about the movie Wall-E. She wrinkled her nose with a grin as the pokemon was going to help make more choices for her. "You are adorable."

"Cool... Alright sounds good."

She moved to grab a table and sat gently pulling off a piece of her sandwich and dipped it in her soup. Eating a small piece. She was trying to remember where she knew the name Hayes from.

 

[Tinnunculus]

Hayes grinned faintly before taking up a spot in line. "He gets that."

Alphard settled back down on his shoulder and listened to the people on the tablet when Hayes set them in motion again. They were talking about how Pokemon like him could keep everyone safe, but that was the extent of his understanding. He rocked back and forth and hummed for a bit, waiting and counting the people in line, but that got boring too. After a while he patted Hayes' ear and gestured into the sea of tables.

"Hn? The blond looked up. "Sure - you know the rules." 'No soup,' Alphard chimed, and floated up to look for the curly-haired girl.

A moment later the Jirachi appeared before Kailee with a little 'pop' of displaced air. 'Hi Kailee,' it announced as it gently descended to eye-level, taking the chance to study her features more closely.  

[caffeinecraving]

She expected that he did. With a face like that how couldn't he. She waved slightly as she stepped away to her table. She pulled out her dex. She was working on making an onyx glow. It was her greatest accomplishment yet and she usually ate alone so she tended to go over notes and see what else she could find as she went.

Kailee jumped like someone had stuck her with a cattle prod. The bite of soup that had been heading for her mouth had fallen and landed in her lap to which she hissed at the warmth, and the possibility of a stain, as she reached to dab at the spot with her napkin. She grinned, her face red as she looked to the pokemon. "Hello Alphard." As she dabbed she kept her face turned up so the pokemon could look. Though she wrinkled her nose playfully, not used to being analyzed.

 

[Tinnunculus]

When Kailee jumped and hissed the Jirachi hovered in closer, trying to see what had made her react. 'Okay? it asked, reaching out to pat her cheek. In doing so, its little white hand moved a curly tendril of hair.

Alphard's mouth made a little 'o', and it reached out to pat her hair too.

Then it remembered itself and put hands behind its back. 'Can I see?' it chimed, remembering to add 'Please?'  

[caffeinecraving]

She nodded. "Oh yeah... Just hot soup..." She grinned at the pat, thinking the pokemon was too adorable for words. She flushed at the pat to her hair. Her hair was once more perfectly curled to bounce at the lightest stimulus.

She frowned slightly. "Sure... " She didn't know what the pokemon was completely asking for. But then it was probably her hair at how the pokemon reacted. So absolutely no foul there.

She shook her head to let her hair start to bounce a bit more. At least he had manors. And he was cute so he could have gotten away with murder if he wanted to.

 

[Tinnunculus]

Alphard's expression lit up with interest, then went quiet again. It floated closer and sank a hand into Kailee's curls, then pulled it away. The curls sprang back. The Jirachi paused, then batted at them. The curls bounced.

Alphard's eyes gleamed.

When Hayes arrived with his lunch, Alphard was almost sitting on Kailee's shoulder subjecting a curl to intense scrutiny, studying how it stretched when it drew its arms apart, then bounced back into shape. It lifted the curl over its head and peered up the end. Hayes' brows rose.

"Al." The Pokemon looked up as the hair slid around its arm like a bracelet. 'I asked.'

The blond laughed. "Okay." To Kailee, as he set his tray down: "Don't be afraid to tell him no, seriously."  

[caffeinecraving]

Kailee smiled letting the pokemon play with her hair. She nibbled on a dipped piece of sandwich as he went. She was enjoying how much the pokemon was enjoying her hair. Seeing a pokemon that happy was something she hadnt gotten to see in a while. Her pokemon, while happy, seemed to simply tolerate her. She needed to work on that.

She smiled up to Hayes. Her face flushed from laughing at his pokemon's antics. "Al did... Was very sweet about it..."

She nodded and the curls bounced away from the pokemon so she picked one up and handed it back.

"Tell him no? You may very well have the most well kept secret weapon of Team rocket... Who could ever say no to that face." She laughed softly and her curls bounced. Hayes... she knew the name... Wait... Elite Agent Hayes?! She flushed and then glanced to Al... she was letting an elite's pokemon play with her hair....

 

[Tinnunculus]

Alphard took the curl back with a 'Thanks!' and made it into a bracelet again. After jangling it on its arm lost its novelty, it gathered up a fistful of them and shook those, feeling the ends move against its palm.

"Heh," Hayes' shoulders moved in amusement. "I guess that's kind of the idea." And that was an.. interesting reaction she'd just had. The elite blinked, drink halfway to his mouth. "Y'okay?"